Abstract
Despite growing educational efforts in various areas of society and albeit expanding knowledge on the background and consequences of consumption, little has changed about individual consumer behavior and its detrimental impact. Against this backdrop, some scholars called for a stronger focus on personal competencies, especially affective–motivational ones to foster more sustainable consumption. Such competencies, however, are rarely addressed within the context of education for sustainable consumption. Responding to this gap, we suggest two new learning formats that allow students to systematically acquire affective–motivational competencies: self-inquiry-based learning (SIBL) and self-experience-based learning (SEBL). We developed these approaches at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany, since 2016, and applied them within the framework of two seminars called Personal Approaches to Sustainable Consumption. Conducting scholarship of teaching and learning, we investigated the potential of SIBL and SEBL for cultivating personal competencies for sustainable development in general and sustainable consumption in particular. Our results indicate that SIBL and SEBL are promising approaches for this purpose.
Highlights
Addressing unsustainable individual consumer behavior remains one of the key challenges for sustainable development (SD) [1]
Conducting scholarship of teaching and learning, we investigated the potential of self-inquiry-based learning (SIBL) and self-experience-based learning (SEBL) for cultivating personal competencies for sustainable development in general and sustainable consumption in particular
We asked which insights students gained into difficulties hindering their personal transformation projects, how they dealt with these possible difficulties, and which factors fostered the overall development of their projects
Summary
Addressing unsustainable individual consumer behavior remains one of the key challenges for sustainable development (SD) [1]. Various educational efforts have done little to change individual consumer patterns and their detrimental impact. Researchers called for a transformation of education for sustainable consumption (ESC) by shifting the focus of learning from a knowledge-based to a primarily competence-based approach. Such an approach would allow learners to acquire skills necessary for pursuing and professionally facilitating more sustainable lifestyles [2]. Given the complex interplay of cognitive, emotional, and motivational dimensions of consumer behavior, such an approach includes, but is not limited to, developing purely academic and disciplinary expertise. Both researchers working on sustainable consumption [3,4] and ESC scholars [5,6] point to the importance of personal competencies, especially affective–motivational ones, for achieving this goal
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